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Fall 2007 GPS introductions

September 4, 2007 By Leave a Comment

You may have noticed that last Friday was a busy day here at GPS Tracklog, as we reported on a dozen new units from Garmin, Magellan and TomTom. These manufacturers used Berlin’s IFA consumer electronics show as a chance to announce a fall 2007 lineup, ahead of the holiday shopping season. Now that the dust has settled, let’s look at some details that escaped notice Friday, and take a quick look at market niches and innovations as well.

Nuvi 700 series to include tracklogs and MSN Direct option

While I reported that the nuvi 700 series specs include multi-destination routing, I should have read the product description more closely. Under "plan ahead" it states "a trip log provides an electronic bread crumb trail of up to 10,000 points, so you can see where you’ve been on the map." A little further down it cites  MSN® Direct as an option. One other note — they tackle the traveling salesman problem — the nuvi 700 series "automatically sorts multiple destinations to provide an efficient route for errands, deliveries or sales calls."

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Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware, Magellan, Mio, TomTom

TomTom researches use of real-time video for navigation

June 29, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Tomtomlogo
GPS Business News is reporting this morning that TomTom has filed a European patent for the use of real-time video for navigation (registration required).

There’s been a lot of buzz for the past year or so about next generation navigation systems using 3-D imagery to create artificial cityscapes, and map data providers are on the verge of offering such imagery for major cities. And while it wouldn’t have surprised me to see map data providers begin to use captured video imagery, ala Google Maps Street View, this goes way beyond that, integrating real-time video on the GPS receiver’s screen.

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Filed Under: TomTom

TomTom GO 720 and MapShare

June 5, 2007 By 4 Comments

Tomtom_go_720UPDATE: Read our TomTom GO 720 review.

TomTom announced the TomTom GO 720 today, a wide-screen, (4.3") flat form factor GPS navigator. There are lots of juicy details, which we’ll get to momentarily, but the big news is MapShare.

MapShare

From the press release….

This unique new map improvement technology allows TomTom users to easily improve their maps as soon as they spot changes in the roads with a few touches on the screen of their device. Via TomTom HOME, TomTom Map Share™ users also receive all map improvements made by others, making their maps as dynamic as the world they live in.

TomTom Map Share™ is a proprietary map improvement technology unique to TomTom, which enables users to easily and instantly improve maps. TomTom users can respond in real time to changes in the road network and correct the maps on their TomTom devices accordingly. Thanks to the smart user interface, it is easy to make improvements, such as to mark blocked or unblocked streets, reverse one way traffic or insert new street names, which will instantly take effect.


EDIT: Initially, six types of corrections will be allowed, though more are expected to be added later:

  • (un)Block a street
  • Reverse driving direction
  • Change a street name
  • Add a missing Point Of Interest (POI)
  • Remove or rename a POI
  • Add or change a POI phone number

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Filed Under: Hardware, TomTom

GPS with MP3 players

November 10, 2006 By 4 Comments

Nuvi_660_center_mp3_1
Many auto GPS receivers come with an integrated MP3 player, allowing you to control musical selections in your car via the GPS. Some even work with Audible audio book (.aa) files, or come with XM Radio receivers. Typically, playback is paused when navigation directions are announced; some units even rewind a couple of seconds when the music starts back.

There are a number of things to consider when purchasing a GPS receiver with an MP3 player; speaker quality, whether or not you can import playlists, the amount of disk storage available for files (if the unit doesn’t use an SD/MMC card for storage), how intuitive menus are, etc. The variations are too great to delve into here. Our GPS reviews link to many user reviews, so dig deep and check them out, or find a message board for the unit you are interested in, and search or ask.

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Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware, Lowrance, Magellan, TomTom

Best GPS for pedestrians

October 28, 2006 By 4 Comments

This article in theday.com covers a lot of ground, focusing mainly on GPS for pedestrians, with a strong emphasis on the Garmin nuvi and its competitors. Here’s the most informative snippet from the piece, comparing Garmin, TomTom and Magellan for those on foot:

"…some devices are more helpful than others for walkers. Garmin says its pedestrian mode negates one-way roads so that walkers can be directed the wrong way. It also allows walkers to go through access roads in parks where cars aren’t allowed.

Similarly, TomTom International BV’s new entry-level $499 TomTom ONE device, 5.5 ounces lighter than TomTom’s next-smallest device, directs walkers in pedestrian mode down the wrong way on one-way streets or along pedestrian bridges or bike paths if those are the fastest routes. And the pedestrian modes on many cellphone services such as Sprint’s MapQuest Navigator enable users to find walking directions and eliminate restrictions such as one-way streets and right-turn-only intersections.

But on the Magellan devices, walkers using the street maps will be directed as if they were a car. Magellan expects pedestrian routing features to be available on its new products early next year."

Related posts:

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Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware, Magellan, TomTom

Bluetooth and GPS for hands-free cell phone use

October 24, 2006 By 5 Comments

C550_bluetooth_screen
Bluetooth is one of the hottest new features in GPS receivers, primarily because you can use them for hands-free cell phone calls, via the GPS receiver’s built-in microphone and speakers. Yet this technology can do so much more.

Address book syncing allows you to look up and dial numbers from your personalized phone book or your phone’s call history log. Plus, you can look up points of interest (POI’s), find a restaurant and have your GPS call to make a reservation!

Each of the units listed below offer Bluetooth for hands-free cellphone use. Except where noted the links go to our own auto GPS reviews:

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Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware, Magellan, TomTom

50 GPS message boards

October 16, 2006 By 3 Comments

Call them message boards, discussion groups, online forums, or some other combination of those terms — Connecting with other folks on the web, who are using your particular brand of GPS can be one of the quickest ways to get an answer on anything from basic noobie queries to perplexing technical questions. Especially helpful are groups that focus on particular brands and models of GPS.

A few caveats before the list of message boards…I’ve tried to screen out those groups dominated by spam. Also, some of these groups overlap, and they vary greatly in posting volume. Speaking of which, I have one tip for the many Yahoo groups below — you may want to choose to view messages on the web only, rather than by email, lest your inbox quickly become clogged. Finally, be sure to drill up and down through these websites. There were just too many forums to list them all, and there are other great message boards out there.

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Filed Under: Best of the boards, FAQs, Garmin, Hardware, Lowrance, Magellan, Software, TomTom

Garmin StreetPilot c550 vs. TomTom GO 910

July 4, 2006 By 9 Comments

Streetpilot_c550T.D. Smyers submitted the following comparison of the Garmin StreetPilot c550 and TomTom GO 910 as a comment, but it’s just too good for that, and deserves its own post. So, with gratitude and with T.D.’s permission, here is a head-to-head face off between these two models…

"This review is provided as a public service.  It represents my own opinion and experience, so take it for what it’s worth to you.

Like many of you, I looked all over for some detailed comparisons of available GPS units before I bought one.  What I found on the web didn’t answer many of my questions, so I decided to share my own GPS adventure with those of you still in the market.  What follows is a comparison between the TomTom GO 910 and the Garmin c550.  There are other units out there, as well, but this review may help make you a more educated GPS consumer – whatever you buy.  Please, take advantage of my time without losing a lot of your own!

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF):
After several days of side-by-side testing, I’m taking my TomTom GO
910 back to Best Buy this morning, and keeping my Garmin c550.  The 910 has enormous potential, but can’t yet deliver in the US; maybe in a few months or so it will.  The Garmin is less flashy, but gets the job done.Tomtom_go_910_2

Intro:
I was very excited about the TomTom GO 910 after doing some preliminary research and finding that it had enormous capability, customization and functional advantages over the competing Brand’s equivalent models.  My initial excitement was reinforced when I opened the box.  The 910 had the feel of quality equipment – it was solid and sleek; it had several “extras”, including an audio cable and a home computer dock; and the connecting hardware fit together firmly and securely with a sharp “click”.  I continued to be impressed with the many Text To Speech (TTS) options available (I chose a very nice British female to guide me around Northern Virginia); the wide, attractive display and the MANY ways available to customize my display and navigation.

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Filed Under: Auto, Garmin, Garmin auto GPS, GPS Reviews, Hardware, TomTom, TomTom auto GPS

Auto GPS buyers guide

May 21, 2006 By 123 Comments

Last updated November 17, 2009

Quite often, I am asked to recommend a GPS receiver. The answer typically is, it depends — primarily upon the price you can pay and the features you want. So here is an auto GPS buyers guide that runs the gamut, identifying some key features along the way. I'€™ll make a recommendation in each price category, based upon value, feature set and user reviews.

A few notes first:

  • I'll admit a bias towards Garmin. They manufacturer quality units with intuitive interfaces. Many of the models listed below are Garmin nuvis. You may find this Garmin nuvi feature comparison chart useful.
  • All the receivers listed below have a color touch screen interface and give voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions.
  • These lists of features worth paying extra for and features you don't need may prove helpful.
  • Prices on GPS receivers are dropping rapidly. The prices listed below are current as of the last update of this post. Keep an eye on our companion GPS Deals site for some great values.
  • Finally, unless otherwise indicated, the links go to auto GPS reviews here at GPS Tracklog, where you'€™ll find several places to track down each model'€™s current low price from trusted vendors.

Budget auto GPS receiversNuvi200left

Our choice:

The Garmin nuvi 200 has maps of the entire U.S., except for Alaska. Like all the nuvis, the 200 has around 6 million points of interest (POIs).

The nuvi 200's retail price is $399.99, but as of this posting it can be found for around $130. Prices are quite variable though, and it’s worth looking at other low end models, such as the ones below. As I’m writing this, the nuvi 250 is available for around $125.

Alternative recommendations:

NOTE: The three budget units listed above have all been discontinued, but will remain fully supported by Garmin. They are great units and I’m very comfortable continuing to recommend them to folks looking for a deal.

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Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware, TomTom

Points of Interest (POIs) resources

March 13, 2006 By 13 Comments

Last updated February 19, 2008

This thread originally dealt solely with custom points of interest
(POIs), but I’ve updated and reorganized it to include online sources
of POIs, conversion tools and more.

Custom points of interest (POI) resources

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Filed Under: Best of the boards, Garmin, Geocaching, Software, TomTom
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